...and Happy New Year!

 Welp, still no fly for me. 

It is 26°F in Corunna and 26°C in Jeddah - the twin cities. A dusting of snow on the ground here and high humidity with a chance of rain there.

On the positive side, after a blurred shot of a red-tailed hawk on our deck railing, I learned how to manually focus my (complicated) camera. For scale the railing is a 2x4 with a 1" railing cap so the bird is about 10" tall with a tail about 5" long.

Caught a Downy Woodpecker gladly attacking the suet feeder. Later on there were four White-tailed Deer crossing the corn field in back of our house looking for an easy meal no doubt. Saw a nice and bright red sunrise one morning. Then there were a few male Cardinals that visited the feeders. There have also been some fat Blue Jays but they haven't sat for photos just yet.

Downy Woodpecker enjoying suet

Red-tailed Hawk

Saw four deer crossing the field

Four friends checking out the remnants

Beautiful sunrise (and yes, it did storm)

Late sunrise ~7 a.m.
       

Mister Cardinal

My best side

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas from Michigan. I got back home on the 10th and I'm "scheduled" to return to KSA on the 31st. I say scheduled because on Monday of this week I got the notice that KSA has closed down all international travel for at least one week due to the new strain of Covid-19 (apparently less deadly but more contagious.) That means a total ban on all travel into and out of KSA. So, I guess on the 28th I will learn whether I can even get on a plane. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the POV. Every silver-lining has its dark cloud. 

Early in November I had a major infection in my lower jaw near tooth #27. Two weeks of antibiotics got rid of most of it but so I didn't have to worry about getting another severe infection while flying over the Atlantic I opted to get a root canal done in Jeddah - BIG mistake. Apparently the dentist was more used to working on camels. My dentist in MI actually said, and I quote, "WTF" when he saw this x-ray.

guess which tooth is in bad shape

Only recourse was to pull it and add an implant....next year sometime when I make it back to MI. Of course there is no way to sue the dentist in the Magic Kingdom. Another painful, expensive lesson.

So, it's a white Christmas, dusting of snow on the ground, cloudy, windy, and chilly. We are warm inside the house at least. 

I hope everyone has something they are thankful for at this time of year, can't be easy for some. Knock on wood, we are all healthy.

See ya next year!

I will fly!

Finally (cross your fingers & knock on wood) I will be taking off tomorrow for a long delayed visit home to Michigan and see wifey & the fur-babies. Not gonna lie, it'll be weird going from 33°C to -4°C. No more tanning until January at least. Two five-hour layovers along the way but at least I'll get to spend them in the lounge - I may even have a drink or two along the way.

Funny thing at work the other day - the other PT engineer in my office was sitting there with one of the other Saudis (both looking at their phones) and he starts humming. I poke my head around from behind my monitor, look at him and ask, "Are you humming 'Red River Valley'?" He didn't know what the song was but said he liked the tune. (Nice rendition here: https://youtu.be/Q89_4gL0M2M) So we had a little discussion about musical genres. BTW, he frequently hums/sings and I tease him about competing in 'Arabia's Got Talent' or 'Arabian Idol'.

Today he and I got to visit a vendor (I may have mentioned about the impeller from Taif) who has finally done a better job building one that should last. Welding is still not the best but at least it has evidence that they performed NDT on the welds - there probably aren't any blatant cracks. We were there to witness the balancing test and do a visual inspection prior to them finishing & painting. Probably another trip to Taif in store for us in January, brrrr! At least this time I'll bring a warm jacket.

So, on the way to this shop I had a small case of pseudo-deja vu. As we came around the corner there was business after business of trucks, tractor trailers, and heavy equipment. I asked my little buddy if this was the only location in Jeddah for these and he said yes - told me the name of the market in Arabic. I said that I've been here (any who have read my previous blog might remember mention of that.) The place hasn't changed from when I rode up that road with another Saudi and his cousin who was looking to buy a truck for his business in Jizan. It's a small world after all.

Wish me luck with successful landings at appropriate places over the next couple days.